Last week a Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School teacher was fired for engaging in inappropriate communications with his students. Although the details of the teacher’s firing are not entirely clear, the incident brings to light a topic of significant concern in the area of modern child protection –technology is changing the mode of communication and the boundaries between adults in positions of authority and mentorship, and the children they interact with on a daily basis.
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When sexual abuse allegations surfaced at Yeshiva University High School in late 2012, the school hired a prominent law firm to independently investigate these serious allegations involving at least two staff members, Rabbi George Finkelstein and Rabbi Macy Gordon with the stated focus being to “perform a full and complete independent investigation of these reports and any other reports of sexual or physical abuse of University students.” Both Finkelstein and Gordon were at the school for a combined 64 years and no doubt came into contact with hundreds, if not thousands of young students.
As we stand beside one of former Priest Thomas Maloney’s courageous victims, Andrew Ward and his family today, and in light of Archbishop Myers’ botched handling of the Michael Fugee and Robert Chabak scandals, it is with concern for past and future victims of clergy sexual abuse that we question Archbishop Myers’ handling of child sexual abuse allegations. While Father Maloney was employed by the Diocese of Peoria from the 1960s through 2000s, at least three separate allegations of sexual impropriety were made against him by victims or their families. These allegations along with …
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We are saddened and disturbed by the news today that a Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s deputy has been charged with sexually assaulting four boys during a church-affiliated fishing trip. The deputy, Aaron Joseph Heuer, 29, is accused of inappropriately touching four boys between the ages of 8 and 10, and has been charged with eight counts of criminal sexual conduct in Otter Tail County, Minn. At least some of the alleged crimes occurred in June while Heuer was volunteering as a fishing guide at Lutheran Island Camp in Henning, Minn. This news unfortunately is a reminder that all organizations that…
The courage of survivors such as David Pususta always inspires and amazes us. David came forward today to not only reveal publicly for the first time that he is a child sexual abuse survivor, but he also discussed his abuse and identified his abuser, who was never publicly named previously. David also filed court documents in Ramsey County District Court seeking to force the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to unseal and make public its secret list of 33 Archdiocesan priests credibly accused of child sex abuse…
The Vatican has fast-tracked Pope John Paul II for sainthood, even though a significant portion of the clerical sex abuse scandal happened on his watch. This is concerning, but not surprising, given the Church’s history of protecting priests instead of children and patting itself on the back while willfully failing to take meaningful action regarding abusive priests or abuse survivors. According to an Associated Press (AP) story, Pope Francis signed a decree on Friday declaring John Paul for sainthood, culminating a “fast-track” process that informally began at John Paul’s 2005 funeral ,…
Archbishop of Milwaukee, Jerome Listecki, is arguing the Hierarchy’s choices to protect priests first and children second should be viewed under the arc of understanding. “The arc of understanding sexual abuse of a minor progressed from being seen as a moral failing and sin that needed personal resolve and spiritual direction; to a psychological deficiency that required therapy and could be cured; to issues of addiction requiring more extensive therapy and restrictions on ministry; to recognition of the long-term effects of abuse and the need to hold the perpetrator accountable for this…
In 1993, Father James Porter pled guilty to sexually abusing 28 children in parishes in southeastern Massachusetts in the 1960’s. Unfortunately, those heinous actions were the tip of the iceberg. With the assistance of church leaders from the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts to the Diocese of Crookston to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Fr. Porter abused children across the United States with impunity. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, the operating protocol with respect to Fr. Porter, a known child molester, was: Protect Porter. Fr. Porter’s 1973 letter to…
We are saddened and disheartened to hear news of yet another situation of a failure of a school to protect its children. The news today that Tajreed E. Rich, a hall monitor and coach at Robbinsdale Cooper High School, who had also worked as a volunteer cheerleading coach at North High School, was charged with third degree criminal sexual assault of a minor is alarming and tragically familiar. School districts and their employees need to be better trained in child protection and prevention of abuse to ensure the safety of our kids at school. We urge Cooper High School, North High School…